Explore Calgary and Banff With the Kids This Fall Like a Local

Local mom and founder of OneTinySuitcase.ca, Stacey, loves exploring her own backyard and shares a couple of her favorite outings in Alberta, Canada.

I live in Calgary, Alberta (Canada) and one of our favourite ‘beat the crowd’ activities is to go to Calaway Park in the last two hours of operation. The crowds and parking lot can get pretty crazy at the park during the day but it is open right up until 6pm. We like to go there around 4pm when all the other amusement park goers are leaving. Our kids don’t have to wait in long lines, park is open right up to 6pm and we can incorporate some kind of ‘dinner’ into our trip there. Our twins usually only last about 1/5-2 hours at the park so this works perfectly for us!

We also live right at the gateway to Banff National Park. On the weekends, the park gate is packed with visitors. To avoid the line up of cars waiting to buy day passes into the park we always purchase an Annual Pass. The Annual Pass allows us to use the ‘thru lane’ on the far right side of all the ticket windows- we just drive right through avoiding the line ups. If you are travelling to Banff you can now order a pass by phone (http://www.pc.gc.ca/pn-np/ab/banff/visit/visit23_E.asp) and have it delivered to your home before you trip. I recommend doing this to avoid the line ups at the gate.

Thanks to Stacey for the insider secrets!! If you’ve been to Calgary or Banff, please share your tips in the comments below!